The questions owners actually ask.

We're a funding brokerage. You complete one application, we package it, and we present it to funding partners whose criteria fit your business. The funding partner underwrites and issues any offer. We don't underwrite or fund transactions ourselves, and we'll tell you plainly which partner a file went to.

No. Partners in our network weigh business performance heavily: consistent revenue and deposit history matter more than a single score. Credit is one factor among several rather than a pass-or-fail gate. Plenty of files that a bank would decline are workable here.

Funding partners in our network generally look for at least six months in business, at least $15,000 in average monthly revenue, and revenue deposited into a business bank account. These are general guidelines rather than guarantees of eligibility.

Almost certainly, and we'd rather name the exceptions than list the rest. We can't currently take an application from a business in California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Missouri, New York, Texas, or Virginia, seven states where a broker has to be registered or licensed before soliciting, and we aren't. Everywhere else, yes. If that changes we'll say so on the page about who we can't help.

They can, and you should ask. Draw Forward charges you nothing at any point: there is no application fee and no cost to talk to us, and in several states collecting one before closing would be unlawful anyway. But a funding partner may deduct an origination or administrative fee from the amount disbursed, so the figure that lands in your account can be smaller than the figure on the agreement. Every fee a partner intends to charge has to appear in that agreement in writing before you sign. Read the disbursement line specifically, and if the two numbers differ, ask why before you accept.

Usually, yes, and anyone telling you otherwise is worth a second look. Most merchant cash advance and small business financing agreements include a personal guarantee or a performance guarantee from the owner, which means you are personally answerable if the business does not deliver. It is not a hidden term: it is in the agreement, but it is the term people most often skim past. We will tell you it is there. Whether it is there, and how it is worded, is the funding partner's decision and not ours.

Trucking and transportation, construction and contracting, restaurants and food service, auto repair, staffing agencies, medical and dental practices, salons and retail, home care, childcare, landscaping, logging, and most other operating businesses.

Three months of business bank statements, a driver's license for each owner, and a voided business check. Four months if your business is in Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana or Utah. Those states have commercial financing disclosure laws and underwriting looks back a month further. In those five you will also be sent a standardized disclosure to sign before the agreement, which is worth having: the cost and terms are set out in front of you before you commit. Depending on your industry and the amount, a partner may ask for more. We'll tell you what's missing rather than leaving you guessing.

Nothing. Submitting an application to us carries no fee and no obligation. If a partner extends an offer, all of its costs and terms will be disclosed to you by that partner in writing before you sign anything.

Yes, and please tell us about it on the application: who it's with, the balance, and the payment amount and frequency. Being upfront about open positions lets us route your file to partners who work with that structure instead of wasting a week finding out the hard way.

It depends on your file, your industry and which partners review it. A complete file with clean statements moves faster than one we have to chase documents for. We won't promise you a number we don't control. What we will do is tell you where your file actually stands.

Submitting the application authorizes us and prospective funding partners to review business and personal credit information about the business and its owners. Applying doesn't obligate you to accept anything from anyone.

Sometimes, and if that's true for your file we'll tell you. A direct funder can only offer you what that funder offers. If you don't fit their criteria, you're declined and you start over somewhere else. The real risk with brokers is the ones who sell your application to a dozen buyers and leave you fielding calls for months. We don't do that, and you can hold us to it.

If a funding partner funds your file, that partner pays us a commission. You don't pay us a fee for submitting or placing your application. Any costs in the transaction itself are the funding partner's, and they'll be disclosed to you in writing by that partner before you sign.

No. A factor rate is a multiplier applied once to the amount you receive: at 1.30, $50,000 received means $65,000 remitted in total. Unlike interest, that cost doesn't shrink if you remit faster, which means a shorter period actually raises the effective annualized cost. There's a calculator further up this page that shows the arithmetic.

No. Not to lead buyers, aggregators, or anyone else. We share your file with funding partners we're actively submitting it to, and we'll tell you which ones. If you want us to stop, say so and we'll close the file.

We'll tell you why, as specifically as we're able to. Often it's something fixable: a few more months of seasoning, cleaner deposits, a resolved position. If it's not a fit today, we'll tell you that honestly rather than stringing you along.